Definitions |
- Access to the Internet – A computer shall be considered to have access to the Internet if the computer is equipped with a modem or is connected to a network that has access to the Internet, whether by wire, wireless, cable, or any other means.
- Child Pornography – Any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where:
- The production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct;
- Such visual depiction is a digital image, computer image, or computer-generated image that is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or
- Such visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
- Computer – Includes any School District owned, leased or licensed or employee, student and guest owned personal hardware, software, or other technology used on School District premises or at School District events, or connected to the School District network, containing School District programs or School District or student data (including images, files, and other information) attached or connected to, installed in, or otherwise used in connection with a computer. Computer includes, but is not limited to, School District, employee, students and guest: desktop, notebook, powerbook, tablet PC or laptop computers, printers, cables, modems, and other peripherals; specialized electronic equipment used for students’ special educational purposes; global position system (GPS) equipment; personal digital assistants (PDAs); cell phones, with or without Internet access and/or recording and/or camera and other capabilities, mobile phones, or wireless devices; beepers; paging devices, laser pointers and attachments, and any other such technology developed.
- Electronic Communications Systems – Any messaging, collaboration, publishing, broadcast, or distribution system that depends on electronic communications resources to create, send, forward, reply to, transmit, store, hold, copy, download, display, view, read, or print electronic records for purposes of communication across electronic communications network systems between or among individuals or groups, that is either explicitly denoted as a system for electronic communications or is implicitly used for such purposes. Further, an electronic communications system means any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communications. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Internet, intranet, electronic mail services, Global Positioning Systems, Personal Digital Assistants, facsimile machines, cell phones with or without Internet access and/or electronic mail and/or recording devices, cameras, and other capabilities.
- Educational Purpose - Includes use of the CIS systems for classroom activities, professional or career development, and to support the School District’s curriculum, policy and mission statement.
- Harmful to Minors – Any picture, image, graphic image file or other visual depictions that:
- taken as a whole, with respect to minors, appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion;
- depicts, describes, or represents in a patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual content, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or lewd exhibition of the genitals, and
- taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as to minors.
- Incidental Personal Use – Use of School District CIS systems by an individual employee for occasional personal communications. Personal use must comply with this policy and all other School District policies, procedures and rules, as well as ISP, local, state and federal laws and may not interfere with the employee’s job duties and performance, with system operations, or with other system users, and must not damage the School District’s CIS systems. Under no circumstances should the employee believe their use is private. The School District reserves the right to monitor, track, access, and log the use of its CIS systems at any time.
- Minor – For purposes of compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (“CIPA”), an individual who has not yet attained the age of seventeen. For other purposes, minor shall mean the age of minority as defined in the relevant law.
- Network – A system that links two or more computer systems, including all components necessary to effect the operation, including, but not limited to: computers, copper and fiber cabling, wireless communications and links, equipment closets and enclosures, network electronics, telephone lines, printers and other peripherals, storage media, software, and other computers and/or networks to which the network may be connected, such as the Internet, Internet 2, or those of other institutions.
- Obscene – Analysis of the material meets the following elements:
- whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
- whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically designed by the applicable state or federal law to be obscene; and
- whether the work taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
- Sexual Act and Sexual Contact – As defined at 18 U.S.C. § 2246(2), and at 18 U.S.C. § 2246(3), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5903.
- Technology Protection Measure(s) – A specific technology that blocks or filters Internet access to visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography or harmful to minors.
- Visual Depictions – Undeveloped film and videotape and data stored on computer disk or by electronic means which is capable of conversion into a visual image but does not include mere words.
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Authority |
- Access to the School District’s CIS systems through school resources is a privilege, not a right. These, as well as the user accounts and information, are the property of the School District, which reserves the right to deny access to prevent further unauthorized, inappropriate or illegal activity, and may revoke those privileges and/or administer appropriate disciplinary action. The School District will cooperate to the extent legally required with the ISP, local, state and federal officials in any investigation concerning or related to the misuse of the CIS systems.
- It is often necessary to access user accounts in order to perform routine maintenance and security tasks; system administrators have the right to access by interception, and the stored communication of user accounts for any reason in order to uphold this policy and to maintain the system. Users have no privacy expectation in the contents of their personal files or any of their use of the School District’s CIS systems. The School District reserves the right to monitor, track, log and access CIS systems use and to monitor and allocate fileserver space.
- The School District reserves the right to restrict access to any Internet sites or functions it may deem inappropriate through software blocking or general policy. Specifically, the School District operates and enforces technology protection measure(s) that block or filter online activities of minors on its computers used and accessible to adults and students so as to filter or block inappropriate matter on the Internet. Inappropriate matter includes, but is not limited to, visual, graphic, text and any other form of obscene, sexually explicit, child pornographic, or other material that is harmful to minors, hateful, illegal, defamatory, lewd, vulgar, profane, rude, inflammatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory (as it pertains to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, age, sexual orientation, political beliefs, receipt of financial aid, or disability), violent, bullying, terroristic, and advocates the destruction of property. Measures designed to restrict adults’ and minors’ access to material harmful to minors may be disabled to enable an adult to access bona fide research or for another lawful purpose.
- The School District has the right, but not the duty, to monitor, track, log, access and report all aspects of its computer information technology and related systems of all users and of any employee’s, student’s and guest’s personal computers, network, Internet, electronic communication systems, and media brought on to School District premises or at School District events, connected to the School District network, containing School District programs or School District or student data (including images, files, and other information) to insure compliance with this policy and other School District policies, to protect the School District’s resources, and to comply with the law.
- The School District reserves the right to restrict or limit usage of lower priority CIS systems and computer uses when network and computing requirements exceed available capacity according to the following priorities:
- Highest – uses that directly supports the education of the students.
- Medium – uses that indirectly benefit the education of the student.
- Lowest – uses that include reasonable and limited educationally-related interpersonal communications and incidental personnel communications.
- Forbidden – all activities in violation of this policy.
- The School District additionally reserves the right to:
- Determine which CIS systems services will be provided through School District resources.
- View and monitor network traffic, file server space, processor, and system utilization, and all applications provided through the network and communications systems, including e-mail.
- Remove excess e-mail or files taking up an inordinate amount of fileserver disk space after a reasonable time.
d. Revoke user privileges, remove user accounts, or refer to legal authorities when violation of this and any other applicable School District policies occur or state or federal law is violated, including, but not limited to, those governing network use, copyright, security, privacy, employment, and destruction of School District resources and equipment. |
Guidelines |
- Access to the CIS Systems
- CIS systems user accounts will be used only by authorized owners of the accounts for authorized purposes.
- An account will be made available according to a procedure developed by appropriate School District authorities.
- CIS System. The School District’s Acceptable Use of the Computers, Network, Internet, Electronic Communications, and Information Policy, as well as other relevant School District policies, will govern use of the School District’s CIS systems for students, employees and guests. Use of the CIS systems will also be governed by the other relevant School District policies.
- Types of Services included, but not limited to:
- World Wide Web. School District employees, students, and guests will have access to the Web through the School District’s CIS systems as needed.
- E-Mail. School District employees may be provided assigned individual e-mail accounts for work related, and incidental personal use, as needed. Students may be assigned individual e-mail accounts, as necessary, by a teacher who will also supervise the students’ use of the e-mail service.
- Instant Messaging. Intermediate Unit employees will have access to local Instant Messaging within the Intermediate Unit local area network.
- Guest Accounts. Guests, which include but are not limited to, volunteers, independent contractors and adult education instructors, and receive an individual account to use the School District’s Internet service, with the approval of the Technology Coordinator and/or designee if there is a specific, School District-related purpose requiring such access. Use of the CIS systems by a guest must be specifically limited to the School District-related purpose. An agreement will be required and parental signature will be required if the guest is a minor.
- Access to all data on, taken from, or compiled using School District computers is subject to inspection and discipline. Users have no right to expect that School District information placed on users’ personal computers, networks, Internet, and electronic communications systems is beyond the access of the School District. The School District reserves the right to legally access users’ personal equipment for School District information.
- Parental Notification and Responsibility
The School District will notify the parents about the School District CIS systems and the policies governing their use. This policy contains restrictions on accessing inappropriate material. There is a wide range of material available on the Internet, some of which may not be fitting with the particular values of the families of the students. It is not practically possible for the School District to monitor and enforce a wide range of social values in student use of the Internet. Further, the School District recognizes that parents bear primary responsibility for transmitting their particular set of family values to their children. The School District will encourage parents to specify to their child(ren) what material is and is not acceptable for their child(ren) to access through the School’s District’s CIS system. Parents are responsible for monitoring their children’s use of the School District’s CIS systems when they are accessing the systems.
- School District Limitation of Liability
The School District makes no warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, that the functions or the services provided by or through the School District’s CIS systems will be error-free or without defect. The School District does not warrant the effectiveness of Internet filtering. The electronic information available to users does not imply endorsement of the content by the School District, nor is the School District responsible for the accuracy or quality of the information obtained through or stored on the CIS systems. The School District shall not be responsible for any damage users may suffer, including but not limited to, information that may be lost, damaged, delayed, misdelivered, or unavailable when using the computers, network and electronic communications systems. The School District will not be responsible for stolen, damaged, or lost personal devices of students, employees, contractors/vendors and guests. The School District shall not be responsible for material that is retrieved through the Internet, or the consequences that may result from them. The School District shall not be responsible for any unauthorized financial obligations, charges or fees resulting from access to the School District’s CIS systems. In no event shall the School District be liable to the user for any damages whether direct, indirect, special or consequential, arising out the use of the CIS systems.
- Prohibitions
The use of the School District’s CIS systems for illegal, inappropriate, unacceptable, or unethical purposes by users is prohibited. Such activities engaged in by users are strictly prohibited and illustrated below. The School District reserves the right to determine if any activity not appearing in the list below constitutes an acceptable or unacceptable use of the CIS systems.
These prohibitions are in effect any time School District resources are accessed whether on School District property, when using mobile commuting equipment, telecommunication facilities in unprotected areas or environments, directly from home, or indirectly through another ISP, and if relevant, when an employee, student or guest uses their own equipment.
Students are prohibited from visibly possessing and using their personal computers, as defined in this policy, on School District premises and property (including but not limited to, buses and other vehicles), at School District events, or through connection to the School District CIS systems, unless expressed permission has been granted by a teacher or administrator, who will then assume the responsibility to supervise the student in its use, or unless an IEP team determines such use is necessary, in which case, an employee will supervise the student in its use. Students who are performing volunteer fire company, ambulance or rescue squad functions, or need such a computer due to their medical condition, or the medical condition of a member of their family, with notice and the approval of the school administrator may qualify for an exemption of this prohibition.
- General Prohibitions
Users are prohibited from using School District CIS systems to:
- Communicate about non-work or non-school related communications unless the employees’ use comports with this policy’s definition of incidental personal use.
- Access or transmit material that is harmful to minors, indecent, obscene, pornographic, child pornographic, terroristic, or advocates the destruction of property.
- Access or transmit material likely to be offensive or objectionable to recipients including, but not limited to, that which may be defamatory, inaccurate, obscene, sexually explicit, lewd, hateful, harassing, discriminatory (as it pertains to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, age, sexual orientation, political beliefs, receipt of financial aid, or disability), violent, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, profane, pornographic, offensive, terroristic and/or illegal.
- Cyberbullying another individual.
- Access or transmit gambling, pools for money, including but not limited to, basketball and football, or any other betting or games of chance.
- Participate in discussion or news groups that cover inappropriate and/or objectionable topics or materials, including those that conform to the definition of inappropriate matter in this policy.
- Send terroristic threats, hateful mail, harassing communications, discriminatory remarks, and offensive or inflammatory communications.
- Participate in unauthorized Internet Relay Chats, instant messaging communications and Internet voice communications (on-line; real-time conversations) that are not for school-related purposes or required for employees to perform their job duties.
- Facilitate any illegal activity.
- Communicate through e-mail for non-educational purposes or activities, unless it is for an incidental personal use as defined in this policy. The use of e-mail to mass mail non-educational or non-work related information is expressly prohibited (for example, the use of the “everyone distribution list, building level distribution lists, or other e-mail distributions lists to offer personal items for sale is prohibited).
- Engage in commercial, for-profit, or any business purposes (except where such activities are otherwise permitted or authorized under applicable School District policies); conduct unauthorized fund raising or advertising on behalf of the School District and non-school School District organizations; resell of School District computer resources to individuals or organizations who are not related to the School District; or use the School District’s name in any unauthorized manner that would reflect negatively on the School District, its employees, or students. Commercial purposes is defined as offering or providing goods or services or purchasing goods or services for personal use. School District acquisition policies will be followed for School District purchase of goods or supplies through the School District system.
- Political lobbying.
- Install, distribute, reproduce or use copyrighted software on School District computers, or copy School District software to unauthorized computer systems, intentionally infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others or violating a copyright. See Section 8 Copyright Infringement in this Policy and the School District’s Copyright Policy for additional information.
- Install computer hardware, peripheral devices, network hardware or system hardware. The authority to install hardware or devices on School District computers is restricted to the Technology Coordinator or designee.
- Encrypt messages using encryption software that is not authorized by the School District from any access point on School District equipment or School District property. Employees and students must use School District approved encryption to protect the confidentiality of sensitive or critical information in the School District’s approved manner.
- Access, interfere, possess, or distribute confidential or private information without permission of the School District administration. An example includes accessing other students’ accounts to obtain their grades.
- Violate the privacy or security of electronic information.
- Use the systems to send any School District information to another party, except in the ordinary course of business as necessary or appropriate for the advancement of the School District’s business, or educational interest.
- Sending unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages, also known as spam.
- Posting personal or professional web pages without administrative approval.
(21) Posting anonymous messages.
- Access and Security Prohibitions
Users must immediately notify the Technology Coordinator and/or designee if they have identified a possible security problem. Students, employees, and guests must read, understand, provide assigned acknowledgement form, and comply with this policy that includes network, Internet usage, electronic communications, telecommunications, non-disclosure and physical information security policies. The following activities related to access to the School District’s CIS systems, and information are prohibited:
- Misrepresentation (including forgery) of the identity of a sender or source of communication.
- Acquiring or attempting to acquire passwords of others or giving your password to another. Users will be held responsible for the result of any misuse of the users’ user name or password while the users’ systems access were left unattended and accessible to others, whether intentional or through negligence.
- Using or attempting to use computer accounts of others, these actions are illegal, even with consent, or if only for the purpose of “browsing”.
- Altering a communication originally received from another person or computer with the intent to deceive.
- Using School District resources to engage in any illegal act, which may threaten the health, safety or welfare of any person or persons, such as arranging for the promotion of, or the sale of, drugs, weapons, alcohol, engaging in criminal activity, or being involved in a terroristic threat against any person or property.
- Disabling or circumventing any School District security, program or device, for example, but not limited to, anti-spyware, anti-spam software, and virus protection software or procedures.
- Transmitting electronic communications anonymously or under an alias unless authorized by the School District.
- Operational Prohibitions
The following operational activities and behaviors are prohibited:
- Interference with or disruption of the CIS systems, network accounts, services or equipment of others, including, but not limited to, the propagation of computer “worms” and “viruses”, Trojan Horse and trapdoor program code, the sending of electronic chain mail, distasteful jokes, and the inappropriate sending of “broadcast” messages to large numbers of individuals or hosts. The user may not hack or crack the network or others’ computers, whether by parasiteware or spyware designed to steal information, or viruses and worms or other hardware or software designed to damage the CIS systems, or any component of the network, or strip or harvest information, or completely take over a person’s computer, or to “looking around”.
- Altering or attempting to alter files, system security software or the systems without authorization.
- Unauthorized scanning of the CIS systems for security vulnerabilities.
- Attempting to alter any School District computing or networking components (including, but not limited to fileservers, bridges, routers, or hubs) without authorization or beyond one’s level of authorization.
- Unauthorized wiring, including attempts to create unauthorized network connections, or any unauthorized extension or re-transmission of any computer, electronic communications systems, or network services, whether wired, wireless, cable, or by other means.
- Connecting unauthorized hardware and devices to the CIS systems.
- Loading, downloading, or use of unauthorized games, programs, files, or other electronic media, including, but is not limited to, downloading music files.
- Intentionally damaging or destroying the integrity of the School District’s electronic information.
- Intentionally destroying the School District’s computer hardware or software.
- Intentionally disrupting the use of the CIS systems.
- Damaging the School District’s CIS systems, networking equipment through the users’ negligence or deliberate act.
- Failing to comply with requests from appropriate teachers or School District administrators to discontinue activities that threaten the operation or integrity of the CIS systems.
- Content Guidelines
Information electronically published on the School District’s CIS systems shall be subject to the following guidelines:
- Published documents including but not limited to audio and video clips or conferences, may not include a child’s phone number, street address, or box number, name (other than first name) or the names of other family members without parent consent.
- Documents, web pages, electronic communications, or videoconferences may not include personally identifiable information that indicates the physical location of a student at a given time without parent consent.
- Documents, web pages, electronic communications, or videoconferences may not contain objectionable materials or point directly or indirectly to objectionable materials.
- Documents, web pages and electronic communications, must conform to all School District policies and guidelines, including the copyright policy.
- Documents to be published on the Internet must be edited and approved according to School District procedures before publication.
- Due Process
- The School District will cooperate with the School District’s ISP, local, state, and federal officials to the extent legally required in investigations concerning or relating to any illegal activities conducted through the School District’s CIS systems.
- If students or employees possess due process rights for discipline resulting from the violation of this policy, they will be provided such rights.
- The School District may terminate the account privileges by providing notice to the user.
- Search and Seizure
- Users’ violations of this Policy, any other School District policy, or the law may be discovered by routine maintenance and monitoring of the School District system, or any method stated in this policy, or pursuant to any legal means.
- The School District reserves the right to monitor, track, log and access any electronic communications, including but not limited to, Internet access and e-mails at any time for any reason. Users should not have the expectation of privacy in their use of the School District’s CIS systems, and other School District technology, even when used for personal reasons. Further, the School District reserves the right, but not the obligation, to access any personal technology device of users brought onto the School District’s premises or at School District events, or connected to the School District network, containing School District programs or School District or student data (including images, files, and other information) to insure compliance with this policy and other School District policies, to protect the School District’s resources, and to comply with the law.
- Everything that users place in their personal files should be written as if a third party will review it.
- Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism
- Federal laws, cases, and guidelines pertaining to copyright will govern the use of material accessed through the School District resources. Users will make a standard practice of requesting permission from the holder of the work and complying with license agreements. Employees will instruct students to respect copyrights, request permission when appropriate, and comply with license agreements and employees will respect and comply as well.
- Violations of copyright law can be a felony and the law allows a court to hold individuals personally responsible for infringing the law. The School District does not permit illegal acts pertaining to the copyright law. Therefore, any user violating the copyright law does so at their own risk and assumes all liability.
- Violations of copyright law include, but are not limited to, the making of unauthorized copies of any copyrighted material (such as commercial software, text, graphic images, audio and video recording), distributing copyrighted materials over computer networks, and deep-linking and framing into the content of others’ web sites. Further, the illegal installation of copyrighted software or files for use on the School District’s computers is expressly prohibited. This includes all forms of licensed software – shrink-wrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, and electronic software downloaded from the Internet.
- School District guidelines on plagiarism will govern use of material accessed through the School District’s CIS systems. Users will not plagiarize works that they find. Teachers will instruct students in appropriate research and citation practices.
- Selection of Material
- Board policies on the selection of materials will govern use of the School District’s CIS systems.
- When using the Internet for class activities, teachers will select material that is appropriate in light of the age of the students and that is relevant to the course objectives. Teachers will preview the materials and web sites they require or recommend students access to determine the appropriateness of the material contained on or accessed through the web site. Teachers will provide guidelines and lists of resources to assist their students in channeling their research activities effectively and properly. Teachers will assist their students in developing the critical thinking skills necessary to ascertain the truthfulness of information, distinguish fact from opinion, and engage in discussions about controversial issues while demonstrating tolerance and respect for those who hold divergent views.
- School District Web Site
The School District will establish and maintain a Web Site and will develop and modify its Web pages that will present information about the School District under the direction of the Technology Coordinator.
- Safety & Privacy
- To the extent legally required, users of the School District’s CIS systems will be protected from harassment or commercially unsolicited electronic communication. Any user who receives threatening or unwelcome communications must immediately take them to the Technology Coordinator and/or designee.
- Users will not post personal contact information about themselves or other people on the CIS systems. The user may not steal another’s identity in any way, may not use spyware, parasiteware, cookies, or use School District or personnel employee technology or resources in any way to invade one’s privacy. Additionally, the user may not disclose, use or disseminate confidential and personal information about students or employees (examples include, but are not limited to, using a cell phone with camera and Internet access to take pictures of anything, including but not limited to, persons, places, and documents relevant to the School District, saving, storing and sending the image with or without text or disclosing them by any means, including but not limited to, print and electronic matter; revealing student grades, social security numbers, home addresses, telephone numbers, school addresses, work addresses, credit card numbers, health and financial information, evaluations, psychological reports, educational records, reports, and resumes or other information relevant to seeking employment at the School District unless legitimately authorized to do so).
- Student users will agree not to meet with someone they have met online unless they have parent consent.
- Consequences for Inappropriate, Unauthorized and Illegal Use
- General rules for behavior, ethics, and communications apply when using the CIS systems and information, in addition to the stipulations of this policy. Users must be aware that violations of this policy or other policies, or for unlawful use of the CIS systems may result in loss of CIS access and a variety of other disciplinary actions, including but not limited to, warnings, usage restrictions, loss of privileges, position reassignment, oral or written reprimands, suspensions (with or without pay for employees), dismissal, expulsions, and/or legal proceedings on a case-by-case basis. This policy incorporates all other relevant School District policies, such as, but not limited to, the student and professional employee discipline policies, copyright policy, property policy, curriculum policies, terroristic threat policy, and harassment policies.
- The user is responsible for damages to the network, equipment, electronic communications systems, and software resulting from deliberate and willful acts. The user will also be responsible for incidental or unintended damage resulting from willful or deliberate violations of this policy.
- Violations as described in this policy may be reported to the School District, appropriate legal authorities, whether the ISP, local, state, or federal law enforcement. The School District will cooperate to the extent legally required with authorities in all such investigations.
- Vandalism will result in cancellation of access to the School District’s CIS systems and resources and is subject to discipline.
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